Valedictorian
by Miss Vampire Authoress
Summary: Hetalia AU: Graduation has some surprises for Elizabeta...


Valedictorian

Note: I Own Nothing.

"Students! Students, please quiet down!" The principal called over the microphone to the auditorium full of students. They were all seniors, all clad in blue and red uniforms, and all—okay, almost all—were ready to graduate in only a few weeks. There were a few students who stuck out in the crowd, and the old principal would admit that he would miss them.

There was Roderick Edelstein, the finest musician the school had ever seen. Roderick had been in the school band in middle school, and then the school orchestra in high school. He had won many awards, both for his self and his school, but he always did it only for his love of music; and though he was a tad snobby, he never used his talent to make himself seem better than others. Then there was Roderick's girlfriend, Elizabeta Hedervary. The girl had always been a tomboy—as a youngster some even believed her to be a boy—and she had used this attitude to become team captain of almost every girl's sports team in the school. She even managed to get on some of the boy's teams, too, and also held down a job after school. Elizabeta was a very admirable and hard-working girl.

Antonio Fernandez-Carriedo was not the best student academically, but he was kind, friendly, and seemed to be able to cheer anyone up no matter what. He was a school socialite and seemed to be friends with everyone. Though he had had his troubles with other students, and had some naughty friends, Antonio was one of the kindest people you could ever meet. Francis Bonnefoy was a flirt, no doubt, but he was also a considerate and wise young man. He seemed to have a knack for giving just the right advice for any situation or problem someone was having in their life or with other people. He could make anyone who had self-esteem issues feel like they were superman. He could someone with low confidence feel like they could take on the world's strongest man in an arm-wrestling competition. Francis was an astute romantic.

Gilbert Beilschmidt was a complicated character; he was a narcissist, no doubt, yet he cared for others—his friends and family especially, of course—very much, as well. He was mischievous and ill-mannered, but a well-behaved student and a hard worker. He acted tough, too, but Gilbert seemed to have a variety of soft spots, ranging from cute things to animals to downtrodden or hurt people. Gilbert had his rough edges: he was narcissistic, got into fights with other students a little too easily, and was obnoxious to a—high—degree, but he was a good student, and a good person.

The students in the auditorium settled down, and the principal cleared his throat. "Today I will be announcing the class awards, class favorites, the names of special speakers at this year's graduation ceremony, and finally, the names of the salutatorian and valedictorian!" The Principal announced with a warm, aged smile. The students clapped happily and respectfully; some, though, seemed dazed off and uncaring of the announcements.

"The award for Perfect Attendance goes to…Mikhail Petoskey!" The Principal began.

Several awards later, The Principal announced the last award, "And the award for the most athletic extracurricular activities, setting a new school record, goes to Elizabeta Hedervary!" Elizabeta, with all the speed of a star athlete raced up to the stage and received her award with tears in her eyes at her accomplishment. She had worked so hard to be the best she could be, and now she was finally being rewarded for it. All the other trophies—the championships, the titles, the scholarships—meant nothing to her at this moment, because she finally had her crown jewel; proof that she was the greatest this school had ever seen.

"Now on to all time class favorites," The Principal began as Elizabeta retook her seat. "Most likely to succeed goes to Juri Matsumoto!" He announced next. Several awards after that, came, "Most talented goes to Roderick Edelstein!" The Principal announced happily. Roderick, awe struck stood from his seat and approached the stage, applause in the back ground. Never had he thought himself to be the greatest, which was why he worked so hard. Hours and hours of practicing and laboring over sheet music, and now came his satisfaction for it all. He was the best and everyone acknowledged it! He, Roderick Edelstein, was now an awarded musician! This is the first step, he thought with a gleeful grin that was eerily reminiscent of a certain Albino's, this is the first step to being a famous musician! Roderick took his award and returned to his seat next to Elizabeta, smiling happily.

A few more class favorites rolled by before finally came the last one. "And the all time class favorite for most popular is…Antonio Fernandez-Carriedo!" The auditorium filled with cheers and applause, proving that Antonio was deserving of the award. Antonio, forever oblivious, was taken by surprise, but shook it off quickly and rushed up on stage and took his award with a gleeful smile and a thankful handshake.

Francis received no award, but he did however, maintained the unofficial title of 'Biggest and best Casanova in school', and for him, that was enough.

"And now, the names of your Salutatorian and Valedictorian…" The Principal began as the auditorium calmed and quieted. The students hushed themselves, most, if not all, curious—eager maybe—to hear who was at the top of their class. Mostly the geeks, nerds, and over-achievers, though; this was basically their version of the super bowl or world cup.

"I am proud to announce that your salutatorian is…Hosni Mishawka!" Polite applause filled the room as Hosni made his way to the stage, smiling. He shook the principal's hand, and since there was no real award, he was given a certificate as temporary gratification until the graduation ceremony, where he'd receive his diploma and a real award. Hosni returned to his seat, grinning.

"And finally, ladies and gentlemen," The principal began, smiling, "The name of your valedictorian…oh, and because of what I assume will be the following uproar, here is an explanation," The Principal added, laughing to his self nervously. "This student deserves this award, I swear, he is an excellent student, really! So please, students, be kind!" The Principal insisted a tad desperately. The students all looked at him confusedly, and some even began whispering to one another about his strange behavior.

The principal cleared his throat, and then began, "I am proud to announce that your valedictorian is…Gilbert Beilschmidt!" The auditorium went dead silent. You could hear a pen drop—no, you could hear an eraser drop! Some turned in their seats to stare at Gilbert in shock, and many were surprised to find the albino looking quite embarrassed by the announcement. Gilbert's cheeks were red, almost matching his eyes, and he dared not to look anyone in the eye, not even Antonio and Francis, who sat next to him, looking at him in utter astonishment. On the other side of the auditorium, Roderick and Elizabeta stared with mixed emotions. Roderick was dumbfounded, of course, almost unbelieving, but he kept his mouth shut and simply wondered if it was true; had Gilbert really earned the title he was being awarded? Elizabeta immediately presumed the worst and glared at the ablino as he made his way up to the podium. Gilbert took his certificate and shared a handshake with the principal. He was quick to try and retake his seat, but was stopped by the principal. "Care to say a few words, Gilbert?" The principal asked. Gilbert looked at the crowd nervously—Elizabeta found that strange for Gilbert—and, much to everyone's surprise, the attention-hog declined and quickly returned to his seat where he sat with his head down for the rest of the assembly.

After the assembly, students began to filter out of the auditorium, and as they did, the talk began.

"You think he cheated?" "Maybe."

"Beilschmidt, for real?" "Total mind-f*ck, right?"

"Wow, I never pegged him for the studious type!" "Just goes to show ya, I guess!"

"I can't believe I lost to him!" "Hosni, let it go! Beilschmidt just worked harder I guess."

"I knew we had a lot of idiots in our year, but enough for Beilschmidt to rank the best, seriously?"

"Damn, that Gilbert guy must have worked his butt off!" "No way, he cheated!"

Gilbert tried his best to block it out and ignore the attention for once. Usually, he would have loved all the attention he received, but not like this. Gilbert knew that this would happen if his grades came out—that others would doubt him, call him a cheat, and tarnish one of the few things he had to be proud of in his life. His conduct may have not been the best, but Gilbert prided his self on his academic record. He prided his self on not being what others perceived him to be: a slacker, delinquent. No, Gilbert was not like that, he was a hardworking student who respected his teachers and other authority figures. Sure, he drank beer at parties, but he wasn't some punk who sprayed graffiti on walls and broke into houses for fun in his free time. He wasn't messy or sloppy, either. In fact, Gilbert was a neat freak like the rest of his family—save Roderick. And he was absolutely not a pervert! Where do people even come up with this crap?! Seriously, one incident in middle school and you're branded for life! Gilbert may have been obnoxious, narcissistic, and ill-mannered, but he was far from being some thug who disrespected his teachers and went around causing trouble. Okay maybe he caused a_ little _trouble—but not as mush as people thought! The worst he had ever done was get in a fight and knock out the dude, and he was only out for like two minutes and was fine afterwards.

Gilbert had pleaded with the principal not to make him valedictorian, but _no_…the principal—or Old Fritz as the students and facility fondly called him—had insisted. Now everyone knew, and now they were either ridiculing him for it or calling him a cheater. Gilbert was so embarrassed…he just hoped that no one—

"You have a lot of nerve, jerk-face!" Elizabeta called out to Albino loudly. Thankfully, it was just her and Gilbert, as they were both outside, on the side of the school building. "A lot of nerve to do what, tranny?" Gilbert shot back. Elizabeta glared at him venomously, and then said, "Taking away some other students chances to be valedictorian, *ss-wipe! I know you cheated! How else would you have gotten it!?" Gilbert sighed heavily and replied, as calmly as he could, "I didn't cheat." "Stop lying!" Elizabeta shouted irately. Gilbert gave her a hard look. "I'm not!" He shouted back. "Yes, you are! I know it! There's no way you studied harder than all the rest of us, there's no way you did better on every test, and there is absolutely no way that you could do something so—so—" "So great?" Gilbert supplied with a slight smirk. Elizabeta growled, but still begrudgingly nodded her head.

"Face it, Lizzy, I actually did something awesome." Gilbert said with a somewhat forced smirk. His response was a glare. "You took away some kid's ticket to college, Gilbert. That is not awesome—and what's worse, actually, is that you did it for nothing other than the satisfaction!" Elizabeta said. Gilbert gave her a confused look. "What the Hell do you mean by that?" He asked. "Oh please! Like you don't know—like you would go to college, Gilbert! You're nothing but a jerk, delinquent who goes around bullying others and—" "I got acceptance letters from three different universities, Elizabeta." Gilbert cut in. Elizabeta looked at him with wide, surprised, green eyes. "What?" She asked, dumbfounded. "Yeah, and if you don't believe me, I have the letters back at my house to prove it. They're all top notch and awesome, too." Gilbert added. "B-But—" "Oh, and for your information, I worked my *ss off for my grades. Everyday, I took thorough notes, asked questions, studied, and even had to get tutored by the teachers sometimes, but I. Worked. _Hard._ Damn it!" Gilbert said, his voice serious in every possible way, his eyes hard. Elizabeta had never seen him like this before. "Also, I have never back-talked a teacher in my life—nor do I have problems with my strict, but awesome grandfather at home, despite popular belief! I have never been arrested for a crime either! I have not peeked into the girl's damn locker room! I have never wrecked my f*cking my car, or even drank and drove! Yes, I do like awesome rock and punk bands, but I do not play guitar, I'm not in a band, and for the love of God, I don't do drugs! In addition, I would like to add that I am not some unawesome punk, delinquent with an attitude problem—I am an awesome student who just so happens to like to party in my free time and have fun; is that so wrong, Lizzy? Is it? Is that really enough to condemn me as some lecherous delinquent with a bad home life?" Gilbert asked, his voice was full of anger and frustration. By the end of the rant, he was slightly out of breath and Elizabeta was taken aback in shock.

"I—I, uh…" Elizabeta was speechless. Gilbert looked at her like he had never looked at her before: like she was hopeless. Gilbert turned his back on Elizabeta and began to walk away, feeling as if a huge weight was off his shoulders. But then, he suddenly stopped and turned to face her again, to her surprise. "Oh, and for the record, you were right! I'm not going to college!" Gilbert called back. Elizabeta felt a tinge of frustration. He had just told her off for making assumptions, and here she was, right about at least one of them.

"I'm joining the military!" Gilbert said in a voice too casual for the words coming out of his mouth. Elizabeta's eyes widened in…in horror. No, she thought, I heard him wrong, I'm sure. But when she looked at Gilbert's face, even from a distance…she knew…it was true… "No…No…Gilbert, no, you can't do that, you idiot!" Elizabeta shouted at the albino. Gilbert just grinned back at her and laughed. "Don't worry about me, okay, Lizzy! I'll be fine!" He called as he walked away.

Elizabeta watched he walked away. He didn't look back, and for some reason, Elizabeta felt like something was missing all of a sudden; like something important had finally come to an end in her life.


End file.
